Shadow Country
Encyclopedia
Shadow Country is a novel by Peter Matthiessen
published in 2008 by Random House
. It tells the semi-fictional life story of Edgar "Bloody" Watson, a real Florida
sugar cane planter and alleged murderer and outlaw who was killed in the remote Ten Thousand Islands region of southwest Florida
in 1910.
Shadow Country is a reworked, re-edited, and retitled single-volume version of an earlier trilogy written by the same author. The novel contains three parts, each corresponding to one of the three source novels originally published in the 1990s: "Killing Mr. Watson," "Lost Man's River," and "Bone By Bone."
Book One is based on Killing Mr. Watson, and is a collection of various first-person accounts about the notorious planter's rise to power and eventual death at the hands of his neighbors. The first scene describes Watson being gunned down by an armed posse on the shores of Chokoloskee Island. The narrative then jumps back to describe Watson's arrival in the Ten Thousand Islands and proceeds chronologically forward to its opening scene.
Book Two is based on Lost Man's River. This section tells the story of Watson's youngest son, an alcoholic historian who tries to reconstruct his father's life in order to determine whether or not he was really a murderer and outlaw.
Book Three is based on Bone By Bone and is a first-person account in the words of Edgar Watson himself. The main character tells his entire life story from his own point of view, from his childhood in South Carolina
to his fatal encounter with his neighbors on the edge of the Florida Everglades
.
Shadow Country won the National Book Award
in 2008 and William Dean Howells Medal in 2010.
Peter Matthiessen
Peter Matthiessen is a two-time National Book Award-winning American novelist and non-fiction writer, as well as an environmental activist...
published in 2008 by Random House
Random House
Random House, Inc. is the largest general-interest trade book publisher in the world. It has been owned since 1998 by the German private media corporation Bertelsmann and has become the umbrella brand for Bertelsmann book publishing. Random House also has a movie production arm, Random House Films,...
. It tells the semi-fictional life story of Edgar "Bloody" Watson, a real Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
sugar cane planter and alleged murderer and outlaw who was killed in the remote Ten Thousand Islands region of southwest Florida
Southwest Florida
Southwest Florida is a region of Florida , United States located along its gulf coast, south of the Tampa Bay area, west of Lake Okeechobee and mostly north of the Everglades...
in 1910.
Shadow Country is a reworked, re-edited, and retitled single-volume version of an earlier trilogy written by the same author. The novel contains three parts, each corresponding to one of the three source novels originally published in the 1990s: "Killing Mr. Watson," "Lost Man's River," and "Bone By Bone."
Book One is based on Killing Mr. Watson, and is a collection of various first-person accounts about the notorious planter's rise to power and eventual death at the hands of his neighbors. The first scene describes Watson being gunned down by an armed posse on the shores of Chokoloskee Island. The narrative then jumps back to describe Watson's arrival in the Ten Thousand Islands and proceeds chronologically forward to its opening scene.
Book Two is based on Lost Man's River. This section tells the story of Watson's youngest son, an alcoholic historian who tries to reconstruct his father's life in order to determine whether or not he was really a murderer and outlaw.
Book Three is based on Bone By Bone and is a first-person account in the words of Edgar Watson himself. The main character tells his entire life story from his own point of view, from his childhood in South Carolina
South Carolina
South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...
to his fatal encounter with his neighbors on the edge of the Florida Everglades
Everglades
The Everglades are subtropical wetlands in the southern portion of the U.S. state of Florida, comprising the southern half of a large watershed. The system begins near Orlando with the Kissimmee River, which discharges into the vast but shallow Lake Okeechobee...
.
Shadow Country won the National Book Award
National Book Award
The National Book Awards are a set of American literary awards. Started in 1950, the Awards are presented annually to American authors for literature published in the current year. In 1989 the National Book Foundation, a nonprofit organization which now oversees and manages the National Book...
in 2008 and William Dean Howells Medal in 2010.
Reviews
- "Shadow Country: A Review" at The Fiction CircusThe Fiction CircusThe Fiction Circus is a Brooklyn-based online literary magazine that currently publishes short fiction and essays on the arts. The group also holds staged multimedia fiction readings accompanied by electronic music and incorporating visual art and theater as a frame narrative...
- "A History of Violence" at The New York TimesThe New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
- "'Shadow Country' by Peter Matthiessen" at The Los Angeles Times
- "An Epic of the Everglades" at The New York Review of BooksThe New York Review of BooksThe New York Review of Books is a fortnightly magazine with articles on literature, culture and current affairs. Published in New York City, it takes as its point of departure that the discussion of important books is itself an indispensable literary activity...
- "Shadow Country: A New Rendering of the Watson Legend" at Orion MagazineOrion (magazine)Orion is a bimonthly, advertisement-free, magazine focused on nature, the environment, and culture, addressing environmental and societal issues....